Well water analysis

i'm way out of my league but if i may. jiji since you put so much bank into RO would you consider a home based water distillery? i'm in tx too but on municipal, never had problems. without the actual numbers does the amount spent annually on RO balance with the amount of annual electricity in distillation? wouldn't that help and avoid a lot of the water modifications? i so wanna be like you guys some day so i watch.

LurchLurkin said:

Your sodium is also a bit high...you did run your water for a few minutes too right before you took the sample? You need to do that so that any precipitate in your pipes doesn't throw off the readings.

Wait...you have a water softener don't you? You took this sample from softened water...didn't you? I just ask because your bicarbonate is super high, your magnesium and calcium aren't tiny, and your hardness is super low 15grains/gallon.

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Yes I have a water softener. It has one of those cheap plastic bypasses on it. I turned the bypass on and let the cold water run at my sink faucet for about 15 minutes then took the sample. I thought it would be better to test it that way post carbon filter, as that is how I would use the water.

Well>water softener>backwashing carbon filter

There's always possibility for error.

mudballs said:

i'm way out of my league but if i may. jiji since you put so much bank into RO would you consider a home based water distillery? i'm in tx too but on municipal, never had problems. without the actual numbers does the amount spent annually on RO balance with the amount of annual electricity in distillation? wouldn't that help and avoid a lot of the water modifications? i so wanna be like you guys some day so i watch.

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I'm not from Texas, just sent the water there. Me, I'm small potatoes. I didn't spend much on RO, just have a 100GPD ro setup. Was going to buy another 150GPD.

Its just that I was planning on using a couple 4x8 flood tables with 100 gallon reservoirs. It's a lot of water, and my septic isn't designed to handle all the waste bypass. And it takes time.
But like always I change my mind. Only one flood table now.

I'm leaning towards just sticking with RO for hydro. Rainwater / well water for vegtable garden next year.

- Jiji

As far as your septic capacity it's a lot of work but you could always cut the top and bottom off a 55 gallon drum and dig a hole outside a few feet from your foundation and the put the drum in it and fill with pea gravel. Just have to pump the water to it underground also a bit or your lawn will get nute burn lol

One thing about well water..it can contain lots of bacteria. We had the well at our new location tested and it had lots of different bacteria in it.

something to think about if your doing hydro. We are using RO and UV sterilization downstream of the RO system.

Once you get bad bugs in the system they are hard to get rid off once the attach to surfaces. I read a research paper that showed organisms attached to poly buckets withstood 60x the concentration of chlorine that it would normally take to kill them.

jijiandfarmgang said:

Its just that I was planning on using a couple 4x8 flood tables with 100 gallon reservoirs. It's a lot of water, and my septic isn't designed to handle all the waste bypass. And it takes time.

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Huh? Is your drain field in clay? I've never heard of a septic system not handling 100 gallons, at least over a period of time, say.....an hour.

I collect rainwater in 2 tanks, one being a 305 g. Norwesco. My dermatologist runs his household of 6 and yard off a 43,000 gal. tank. We do it big in Texas.

BTW, very important question - when you submitted your report did you state it was for a "Domestic" or "Gardening" app?

And to the fellow who said 15 grains isn't hard, it is. When it comes down to water quality and the science of it all, the "Very Hard" designation begins at >10.5 grains/gal.

You are not limited by your well water quality, IF, you condition it with sulfuric acid and then choose your foods with those secondarys that are now available in a salt form (sulfates) that the plant can uptake. You have the blessing of having the secondaries free - Ca, Mg, S. Why not take advantage of it? You could always dilute it with RO water.

Also, all the data you need is in the excellent Agrilife "Description of Water Analysis Parameters" booklet that was provided with your report.

Good luck,
Tio

Yeah its all clay. Drain field is in low lying spot (when it rains heavy water is just standing on top). Its old and has clay tiles. It really needs to be redone, one of things I was going to get done this year that never happened.

The ro I have says 3:1 wastewater for RO water, not sure how accurate that is.
I know really this isn't much water in the scheme of things, but my septic needs work.


I stated gardening.....

- Jiji

Yeah thinking about it actually my flood table would be fine to use only well water or part RO with sulphuric or nitric acid. I'm going to stick with only RO for dwc just to keep ppm as low as possible.

If you count snow as water storage I have you beat.

- Jiji

Ever thought about keeping it simple and just doing soil? I don't see the infatuation with any kind of water culture, especially DWC.

Snow? NO thank you.

I have some in soil now. Each has its pros and cons. I haven’t matched the growth rate in soil with DWC. Although never lost a mature plant in soil.
Its been a while since I've used DWC but going to give it a go after seeing some inspiring pictures.

Buying a lot of dirt in sub zero temps is a pain in the ass (no one near me sells it in winter), and people know what your doing, (most just make jokes.) Sure I can stock up, but it has to be in a sheltered space or else it gets wet and freezes.

Some day I'll get a hoop house to really extend the season, then its all dirt.

- Jiji

jijiandfarmgang said:

I have some in soil now. Each has its pros and cons. I haven’t matched the growth rate in soil with DWC. Although never lost a mature plant in soil.
Its been a while since I've used DWC but going to give it a go after seeing some inspiring pictures.

Buying a lot of dirt in sub zero temps is a pain in the ass (no one near me sells it in winter), and people know what your doing, (most just make jokes.) Sure I can stock up, but it has to be in a sheltered space or else it gets wet and freezes.

Some day I'll get a hoop house to really extend the season, then its all dirt.

- Jiji

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Makes sense. I'm raising tropicals in a large greenhouse and having a ball.

Uncle Ben said:

Ever thought about keeping it simple and just doing soil? I don't see the infatuation with any kind of water culture, especially DWC.

Snow? NO thank you.

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Its not in most cases an infatuation as much as different method of growing imo. I actually find it refreshing to grow in something other than dirt. Started growing in soil at 14 and now 54. Also I find it easier lol. Just got back from a 10 day trip and not an issue thank god lol.

Keep us posted on how things are going jiji. Sounds like your off to a great start! Took me a bit to dial things in dealing with well water. Things are going great but still looking at an RO, logistics are a hurdle.

I have no logistical issues with soil. It takes care of itself and grows FAST. Heck, if it grew any faster I'd have to rope and tie it down! https://www.rollitup.org/t/spin-out-for-chemical-root-pruning.9114/

Jiji, curious, where do you live such that you can't buy a big bag of potting soil and perhaps some amendments to make it stretch like vermiculite or perlite?

I can buy it, just not so much in winter with out driving a fair amount. In a desolate area near Canada. I'm a caregiver and also grow for patients, so I use a fair amount of dirt.

- Jiji

jijiandfarmgang said:

I can buy it, just not so much in winter with out driving a fair amount. In a desolate area near Canada. I'm a caregiver and also grow for patients, so I use a fair amount of dirt.

- Jiji

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Near what part of Canada Jiji? I live in Ontario myself and also pretty desolate and shitty snowy winters. Need to get my ass south.

Near Ontario.

- Jiji

UB can you imagine opening your door in November and wonder where your porch went? This was one nights accumulation, I use this porch everyday. The thing on the top left is a cheap gas grill for scale.
There is small horticultural greenhouse places peppered around the area, but they all close during winter. No box stores. Small hardware stores and the like sell dirt on pallets usually outside in summer as well, but they're gone by fall. Yeah rough winters are getting old.

- Jiji

Holy cow! No, I can't imagine. Here's a shot of one of my citrus trees loaded with fruit at the old house, southern Texas. We had horrible 8" DRIFTS!